Events / Graham Cunningham / 17 September 2009 /

Racing UK analyst Graham Cunningham ventures North of the border, where a value bet brightens up a long afternoon. Meanwhile, down at HQ, a strapping colt catches the eye...

I would be lying to my regular reader if I suggested that I started wading through the eight-race epic that is Friday's Ayr card with a song in my heart.

Still, seek and ye shall find is a reliable enough maxim for any punter to work by and it could be that at least one race warrants particularly close attention.

The big race of the day is the Harry Rosebery Stakes at 3.30 and the pair who catch my eye most are Mister Manannan and Skylla.

There is no fancy story with Mister Manannan. He's just a very smart and speedy juvenile who is plainly good enough to go very close at this level after running a blinder for third in Sand Vixen's Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster last week. He fully deserves to be favourite, but the market will probably reflect his obvious chance and the value call could be to back Skylla each way.

Rookie trainer John Holt has done really well with this speedy filly, who put up a fine performance to win a hot Haydock nursery before showing further improvement to chase home the fast-improving Hold Your Colour at Ripon. Skylla showed plenty of speed again there, so the step back to five should be no problem, and a draw close to the stand rail looks another boost to her prospects.

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Take Ten to take centre stage in HQ feature

The downturn in the economy over the last year means valuable sales races like Newmarket's £250,000 Tattersalls Timeform Millions Sprint (3.40) could be living on borrowed time.

To my mind that's a pity, as they tend to provide highly competitive betting markets, and Take Ten is the one who catches the eye in this renewal. Granted, Mark Johnston's strapping colt doesn't have the best form in the race. That honour falls to Jira, but Clive Brittain's filly tends to take time to warm up in her races and I have my doubts as to whether she is quick enough to beat useful rivals over six furlongs on fast ground nowadays.

By contrast, Take Ten looks very much a sprinter and a highly progressive one at that judged on his runaway win in a Warwick nursery and an excellent fifth in another big sales race at Doncaster last week. Take Ten was forced to race away from the main action for a long way at Donny, but he showed good speed and would have finished slightly closer to Swilly Ferry and company had he not been checked.

In short, he's likely to progress again and to my mind he's one of the most interesting horses in action anywhere in Britain this Friday.

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Fame no forlorn hope for Arc glory with or without Sea The Stars

To most people, this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is an open and shut case. In short, conventional wisdom suggests that the mighty Sea The Stars has the Longchamp showpiece at his mercy if he turns up on October 4th.

But John Oxx has stated clearly that Sea The Stars won't turn up if the ground is soft and anyone who backs him at the current Betfair price of [2.7] does so in the knowledge that they are at the mercy of the Paris weather.

By contrast, Fame And Glory is bang on course for the Arc whatever the weather. Granted, he has been beaten fair and square twice by Sea The Stars, but he is a formidable horse in his own right and open to more improvement granted the sort of test the Arc tends to provide.

In summary, Fame And Glory looks a very fair bet at his current Betfair price of [7.0]. And he could go off a good deal shorter if the horse of the year heads for California rather than France for his next appearance.

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Cheats never prosper.....or do they?

There are some rum goings on in the wider world of sport at present. The diving debate in football remains alive and kicking, while the bloodgate story in rugby union shows no sign of going away with the news that the Harlequins club doctor has been suspended by the General Medical Council.

And, worst of all, it now seems beyond doubt that certain members of the Renault Formula One team asked Nelson Piquet jnr to put his own life at risk by crashing at breakneck speed in Singapore last year.

It's all about trying to gain an unfair edge, of course. But all of a sudden I don't feel quite so bad about the amount of rule bending that goes on in what some still call the sport of kings.

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